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Oaks are often taken for granted here in Southwest
Colorado. They are common in the landscape, not terribly awe inspiring and
are easily overlooked when viewed as a backdrop for our majestic pines.
Yet one of my favorite trees is the Gambel oak, also known by the less glamorous
name scrub oak. (My husband and I have wedding rings sporting a Gambel oak
leaf design.)
There are roughly 52 species of oak, or Quercus, in the
United States. The word Quercus is the Greek word for oak, but is thought
to be derived from the Celtic word meaning “fine tree”. Oaks
come in several groupings, including the live oaks (evergreen year round),
the red oaks and the white oaks. Our Gambel oak is a white oak.
Gambel Oak is an important food and shelter source for
much of Colorado’s wildlife, including deer and elk, squirrels, porcupines,
rabbits and smaller rodents, and birds such as scrub jays, black-billed
magpies, black-capped chickadees, spotted towhees, grouse, woodpeckers and
sharp-shinned hawks. And let us not forget our black bears, the majority
of who’s fall food is often the Gambel oak acorn.
Our oaks leaf out in May, and at the same time flower with
both male and female catkins. Often, a late spring frost can nip these tender
leaves and catkins, decreasing the acorn crop for the year dramatically.
It is also these late spring frosts that keep our oaks scrubby. In the mountains
of Arizona, where the weather is more consistent, Gambel oaks can reach
75 feet in height! Acorns mature in August and September, and once ripe,
drop to the ground almost immediately. Woodpeckers, jays and squirrels help
with dispersal by storing some of the acorns for later use.
Gambel oak is both drought and fire tolerant. Acorn production
is tied to available moisture, and trees without adequate water will produce
few nuts, but the tree itself will survive to flower another year. When
burned, Gambel oak roots are often protected from the intense heat of the
fire by the soil, and once moisture returns, the roots send up new shoots
to once again provide forage and cover for wildlife and hold the precious
soil in place while other plants reestablish.
Of course, acorns have long been a source of food
not only for wildlife, but for humans. White oak acorns tend to have less
tannin, and are therefore “sweeter” than red acorns. Gambel
oak acorns are some of the sweetest of all. When ripe, they can be eaten
right off the tree with only a slightly noticeable bitterness. Look for
brown rather than green nuts that are loose in their caps. But try them
soon, before this important food crop is consumed by our wildlife preparing
for winter.
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